The return of the Oriental Institute to Nubia began in 2006 with a preliminary reconnaissance trip to evaluate the possibility of participating in an archaeological salvage project in Sudan. The Merowe Dam Project at the 4th Cataract of the Nile, upon its completion in 2008, flooded an area of approximately 100 miles in the Nile Valley. Between January and March 2007, the Oriental Institute joined international teams in the 4th Cataract region in archaeological investigation of the area, an area that had, prior to the salvage project, received virtually no attention.

Oriental Institute excavations in the 4th Cataract were supported by the Packard Humanities Institute and National Geographic.